2 lawyers among 8 killed on Monday in Juarez

At least eight people were killed in separate incidents on Monday in Juarez, making it the most violent day of 2014 in a city that has seen a drastic drop in homicides in the last two years.

Among those killed was, Salvador Urbina, a Juárez prominent lawyer who in 2011 represented an El Paso teacher accused in México of trying to smuggle drugs into the U.S. The teacher was cleared of drug charges by Mexican authorities.

Urbina, 52, was fatally shot while inside his office at 5810 Melquiades Alanís Avenue in the Partido Díaz neighborhood in north Juárez. He was killed at about 5:30 p.m., according to Chihuahua authorities.

Jail magistrate and lawyer César Cordero, 37, who was at Urbina's office, was also shot and killed.

On Tuesday, the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office announced that a reward of 250,000 pesos, or about $19,000, was being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the person who shot the two lawyers.

Enrique Villarreal, the Chihuahua Attorney General in the Northern Zone, said the agency has videos from Urbina's office and testimony from eye witnesses who have described the two possible suspects.

He said the agency is looking at some recent death threats that were made toward Urbina, including one in 2010 after the lawyer quit as a deputy director of the Cereso prison in Juárez.

In 2012 Urbina was threatened again when he resigned as the defense lawyer of four ex-police officers of the now extinct Delta Group, who were accused of abducting and murdering people, Villarreal said.

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Former Juárez Police Chief Julián Leyzaola commanded the Delta Group.

News archives say Urbina fled to the United States in 2011 after the Mexican Federal Police told him there was a plot to kill him. But after a few months in exile, he returned to Juárez and resumed working.

Urbina, who was a former president of the Juárez Lawyers' Association and the executive secretary of the National Lawyers' Colleges and Associations in México, was involved in several high-profile cases.

He led the legal defense of Ana Isela Martínez, a Juárez resident who commuted daily to her job as a teacher at La Fe Preparatory School in El Paso.

Among those killed in Juarez on Monday were two hair stylists, a shopkeeper and two of his clients, according to the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office.

Julio Castañeda, spokesperson for the agency, recognized Monday as the most violent day in 2014.

"We think the number of murders were isolated cases and we do not expect a waive of violence like in past years. However, we are doubling security efforts and changing strategies to avoid future violent days," he said.

May has also been the most violent month so far this year, with 47 homicides as of Monday night. In January 30 homicides were reported and 40 in February, 39 in March and 30 in April, according to the Chihuahua Attorney General's Office.